Growing Grapevine

Grapevine Economic Development Presents "Growing Grapevine," a podcast about the people and policies that shape our unique community. This season, we're looking at the first Big Fish to get hooked on North Texas, and the community transformation that followed.

Meet the team that spends thousands of hours turning Historic Main Street into the Christmas Capital of Texas™️

North Texas is one of the nation's fastest-growing metropolitan areas, at or near the top of most economic and population growth lists for the last decade. To get a better sense of where Grapevine fits into that picture, we asked the Fort Worth Regional Chamber's Chris Strayer why companies love Dallas-Fort Worth.

Now serving his third consecutive three-year term on the Grapevine City Council, Paul Slectha is both a Grapevine native and a former TEXRail skeptic. Now, he serves on the Board of Directors at Trinity Metro. In this episode, we ask him why he wanted to serve in leadership and what impact the new commuter rail has and will have on the City.

The footprint of DFW Airport covers a good portion of Grapevine, making the City an essential part of the North Texas economy. Today, we're sitting down with the airport's Vice President of Commercial Development to learn more about how that came to be and what it means for the region.

In this special episode, we're taking you back to a tragic Easter Sunday morning in 1934. Together, we'll explore an infamous piece of local history... and one entrepreneur's unique strategy for making the most of it.

Travel back in time to a Grapevine with far fewer things to do in this, the first of six episodes exploring Grapevine's growth into a Destination market.

In Grapevine, a Planning and Zoning Commission board made up of seven representatives and two alternates oversees the regulation of development across the entire City. In this episode, we're going back in time to the 1970s and '80s, when Grapevine's 9™️ first concocted their Master Plan.

In April 2004, the Gaylord Texan – one of Grapevine's most iconic projects – opened to the public. Three years later, Great Wolf Lodge arrived in the City with the largest property the chain has built to date... right across the street from their competitors.

If your City is built around visitor attraction, shouldn't a global pandemic be cataclysmic? Grapevine Chamber of Commerce CEO RaDonna Hessel and City of Grapevine CFO Greg Jordan join our investigation into the depth (and breadth) of business in Grapevine.

For decades, Grapevine was a City defined by tourism and small business. But in the last few years, multiple major corporations have selected this suburban town for National and even Global headquarters. And not always for the reasons you'd expect...

In the Season 1 Finale, we sit down with Economic Development Director Larry Holt and a panel of experts to answer one simple, yet essential question... what's next for Grapevine?

'Growing Grapevine' returns with an in-depth look at the shopping center at the heart of the city. From its arrival in 1997 to an overhaul in the 2010s and an innovative new lineup coming soon, Grapevine Mills is a microcosm of the community... join us for a special behind-the-scenes tour!Audio from Grapevine Mills' grand opening courtesy of KTVT, CBS 11.

Your tour of Grapevine Mills begins with an unusual stop: a video game arena from the United Kingdom. But BELONG Gaming is more than an interesting tenant at your favorite shopping center. It's a gateway into one of the most pressing questions of our day... how do you prepare the next generation to join a workforce filled with professional gamers, online influencers, and jobs that haven't yet been invented?

We travel back in time to witness the wildly successful launch of Grapevine Mills, complete with skate parks, theme restaurants, and an obscure little band called Hanson. Then ask... how long can the 90s aesthetic hold up?Grand opening footage and audio courtesy of KTVT, CBS 11 News.

After opening to rave reviews, Grapevine Mills ran into tough headwinds in the mid-2000s. A dated aesthetic, less-than-perfect tenants, and a Great Recession should have spelled doom for the City's landmark shopping center... instead, Grapevine Mills now stands against the popular opinion that malls and physical retail are dying. Today, we're exploring the strategy that outperforms 99% of regional shopping centers.

Our tour of Grapevine Mills takes an unexpected detour to explore one of the most ambitious proposals ever entertained in this community: the establishment of a Fortune 100 International Headquarters in the heart of the City.What would have happened if Grapevine was selected to be the home of Amazon HQ2? Could something similar happen in the future? Are these projects worth pursuing in communities like ours? This hypothetical alternate history leans into a classic Hollywood trope: based on a true story.

This month, our tour of Grapevine Mills detours all the way to Santa Fe to answer a question we've been hearing a lot lately: What is Meow Wolf? There's no simple answer when it comes to Grapevine's newest destination attraction, so we pulled out all the stops to give you an insider experience at the House of Eternal Return. Audio elements and episode image courtesy of Meow Wolf; original photography by Kate Russell.

Before Meow Wolf Grapevine was public knowledge, it was Project Black Corinth.After doing our best to explain Grapevine's newest destination attraction in last month's episode, the Economic Development team wanted to dive into the most important part of the project: its impact. Hear from the Creative Directors behind The Real Unreal and the team that recruited one of the nation's fastest-growing family entertainment brands to Grapevine Mills in this episode of 'Growing Grapevine.'Plus (of course) a few more details on the exhibit before it opens in July 2023.

There's no shortage of cutting-edge entertainment users in Grapevine, but one batch predates the majority of well-known concepts. The Merlin Entertainments cluster - which consists of a LEGOland Discovery Center, a SeaLife Aquarium, and the first American Peppa Pig World of Play - draws hundreds of thousands of people into the City every year. In fact, their parent company is second only to Disney for visitor attraction.Join us as we explore the first truly revolutionary tenants of Grapevine Mills... and, of course, the daring sea turtle rescues associated with their work.

Our tour of Grapevine Mills takes an exciting turn down Main Street, thanks to the startup-friendly culture at Simon and in the City of Grapevine! In this month's episode, you'll meet Rachel Townsend-Cerny, owner and gallerist at RTown Art Gallery. A Grapevine native and the product of GCISD schools, Rachel is determined to grow the arts in her hometown. And she's not alone.Katy Lemieux and Valerie Walizadeh took a lifelong dream to Kickstarter and launched the City's first independent bookstore! Their improbable journey is just the beginning as we dive into the power of Grapevine, a post-COVID surge of entrepreneurship, and a management team that loves to add local flavor to the Destination Attractions at Grapevine Mills.

Grapevine, Texas is synonymous with dining, retail, and entertainment. But one of the City's fastest-growing companies is actually an unlikely tech startup: Sera Systems, a software developer serving technicians in the plumbing and HVAC space, is a multi-million-dollar publicly traded company with an unassuming headquarters just off Main Street. In this episode, our tour of Grapevine Mills pauses for a bathroom break so that we can interview the entrepreneur behind Sera and its sister company/beta testing field, BillyGo. You won't want to miss the story behind this unlikely pairing of pipes and circuits!

The next stop on our grand tour of Grapevine Mills comes with polished wood floors and family entertainment aplenty! Join us as we examine the public-private partnership that turned a JC Penny Outlet into a service for residents all across Dallas-Fort Worth. Fieldhouse USA solved a few problems for Grapevine's award-winning Parks and Recreation Department... including one massive expansion you'll never see coming.

Our ongoing tour of Grapevine Mills dives deeper into the shopping center than ever before, bypassing iconic destination retail and entertainment offerings to drop in on an area few guests ever see: a fully functional police substation right on site! Hear from officers who patrol and train on the grounds (and the management who are thrilled to host them, even if a few TVs are harmed in the process) in this, the penultimate episode of 'Growing Grapevine,' Season 2.

Our yearlong exploration of Grapevine Mills ends with a festive excursion on one of the City's most well-known attractions: the North Pole Express. But this themed train ride is more than one of 1,400 events in the Christmas Capital of Texas. It's also an important resource for one very important organization working to welcome new residents and economically disadvantaged families to Grapevine.

'Growing Grapevine' returns with our biggest season yet! We're going way back to the early years of Grapevine to explore how and why our Authentic Historic Downtown came to be, then talking to the folks shaping developments and thriving in storefronts there today. We've packed everything from the Cotton Belt Rail line to your favorite restaurant on Main Street into twelve half-hour(ish) episodes, published once a month right here.

This season, you're getting an up-close look at Grapevine's Historic District, from its 19th-century origins to several 21st-century landmarks. That's a big task, so you'll want to start with a touch of caffeine.In this special National Coffee Month episode, we're talking to four independent coffee house operators in Grapevine to see why they set up shop here... and what coffee tells us about the human experience.Take the coffee shop recommender quiz: choosegrapevinetx.com/news-center/quizThe rundown:00:00-04:11... what our coffee says about us4:12-10:16... Buon Giorno, your friendly neighborhood coffee house10:17 - 16:39... the mad scientists at Brew & Batter16:40 - 23:53... RE:Defined, where everybody knows your name23:54- 29:42... honoring every guest at Pax & Beneficia29:43 - 35:00... how coffee explains the world

Before we piece together the story of Grapevine's Historic District, we'll need to stop in and see the puzzle masters at The Grapevine Escape! The married duo behind one of Main Street's most popular entertainment venues has much to say about what makes this area special, and their unique experience encapsulates the spirit of the community itself.Join us as we plot our Escape from Grape Vine!The rundown:00:00-02:41... Intro (with apologies to John Carpenter)02:42-06:18... what's an escape room and why do we have one?06:19-09:46... born on a bar room napkin09:47-13:15... a narrative-driven, player-friendly approach13:16-18:31... staying nimble and forging partnerships through market upheaval18:32-23:11... what makes The Grapevine Escape special?23:12-27:28... what comes next?

Understanding the Historic District starts with understanding local history, so we asked Larry Groebe – Communications Director for the Grapevine Historical Society – to walk us through the early decades of this community. As he breaks down the decades that defined Grape Vine (and, later, Grapevine), we'll discover which things have changed, which almost weren't preserved, and which have been part of Grapevine's DNA from the beginning.More importantly, we'll hear why the City still feels authentic after 180 years of change. 00:00-02:41... a quick tour of the Historic District.02:42-04:17... the history that almost wasn't.04:18-06:23... meet our resident expert.06:24-09:28... a Destination, even in the 1920s.09:29-12:59... Main Street through the decades.13:00-15:23... the very first businesses.15:24-18:32... early innovators - Wilhoite's Garage.18:33-24:32... history uncovered - Bermuda Gold & Silver.24:33-27:57... the people who saved our City('s history).

Every day, you interact with countless miles of unseen pipes, wires, and utilities that create the illusion of effortless convenience. But behind every charged phone, running sink, and Wi Fi router, there's a team of engineers working to keep your life going smoothly. Here in Grapevine, those folks have an extra layer of challenge: part of the City is over 100 years old. And much of it predates modern computers.Here's the roadmap for our exploration of the unseen systems that support our community...00:00-03:35... meet our experts03:36-06:20... what does "civil engineering" actually mean?06:21-10:29... unique utilities, hand-drawn plans, and other historical hiccups10:30-14:21... modern solutions to age-old questions14:22-19:24... water, water everywhere19:25-23:28... weathering winter storm Uri23:29-28:20... making the most of a global shutdown28:21-29:59... outtro and a Bonus Fun Fact

You've met the "elves" who decorate Main Street (Season 1, Episode 1)... now meet their supervisors. From planning events that draw massive crowds to the importance of every little detail, here's what makes Main Street so magical during the 40-day Christmas Capital of Texas activation.What's on the agenda:00:00-02:28... who's in charge here?02:29-05:25... the party (planning) never ends05:26-8:12... "aiming for Disney" revisited8:13-10:34... getting the little things right10:35-13:00... the "Leslie Knope" mentality13:01-21:18... the data driving this year's revised festivities21:19-25:03... how events and activations affect business owners25:04-28:06... deck the halls with cute nostalgia28:07-30:01... nowhere to go but up

Balancing preservation with progress can be tough when the oldest part of a City is also one of its hottest real estate markets. But the Farmer's Market of Grapevine shows how consumers can shape an area as effectively as ordinances and private equity.What's on the menu today:00:00-04:48... how residents turned a 7-11 into fresh food04:49-08:23... the Farmer's Market value proposition08:24-10:29... from pop-up to Main Street Staple10:30-12:59... risking it all on brick and mortar13:00-16:05... the state of historic real estate in Grapevine16:06-19:00... protecting the spirit of the City's original marketplace19:01-19:54... the benefits of backfilling19:55-22:09... much more than fruits and vegetables22:10-22:52... how this story sums up Grapevine

Destination dining is a key part of the business environment on Main Street. Without gathering spaces and innovative menus to draw visitors in, the Historic District would struggle to generate and hold the crowds it needs to thrive. Most local establishments have been here for some time, supporting and benefiting from the neighborhood's unique culture. But no two are alike, and to prove it, we're talking to a pair of wildly different (and wildly successful) business owners: Steve Brown and Dan Weinberger.Here's what we're serving up:00:00-04:55... dining demand in the Historic District04:56-08:43... the man behind DFW's favorite deli08:44-10:15... how Weinberger's almost landed in Southlake10:16-13:11... the full-service restaurant no one expected to find13:12-15:15... extreme makeover: Funeral Home edition15:16-17:00... the Margarita Capital of Texas17:01-18:04... why conference attendees need to get away18:05-19:38... how Esparza's leads with relationships19:39-21:40... Weinberger's, designed with speed in mind21:41-25:38... what separates Main Street dining from other restaurant clusters?25:39-28:30... decades of success (and one idea that didn't make the cut)

Visitor spending fuels Grapevine's economy, especially in the Historic District. The reliable stream of customers drawn to the area by its authentic charm and special events is a key factor in Small Business success. And it's easy to see why: festival days and seasonal activations accounted for every one of the Top 20 busiest days in this strategic neighborhood last year... but most vendors in the area have learned not to depend on those surges for long-term success. Let's talk about what they do instead.Here's what we're serving up:00:00-04:43... welcome to GrapeFest04:44-08:39... the core elements in every successful business08:40-10:25... inside Giddens Art Gallery on festival day10:26-14:05... Hip Pop's double-storefront approach14:06-16:15... the electromagnetic theory of customer retention15:16-18:05... an indie bookstore's unrelenting commitment to community engagement18:06-20:06... what happens to an auto shop when the streets are closed?20:07-22.40... doing business the old-fashioned way 22:41-24:51... why volunteering is good for any Grapevine business, regardless of location24:52-27:16... the invisible, essential benefit of community events27:17-28:52... the party doesn't stop when the festival ends

How close did the City come to losing its most iconic neighborhood? Grapevine Residents have heard the stories: an unwatched candle, a timely partnership, and a crisis narrowly averted. Today, we're looking at the legend of a fire that could have destroyed the Historic District... but ended in a single puddle instead. Here's how the investigation unfolds:00:00-01:49... the legend as we know it01:50-04:49... meet the Grapevine Fire Department, our expert witnesses04:50-10:30... how codes and experience help prevent fires10:31-12:53... why Historic District buildings aren't up to modern code12:54-14:10... the fire suppression mandate14:11-17:35... how City officials enabled even the smallest businesses17:36-20:15...a crash course in fire science20:16-21:51... the criminal profile of a fire: motive, means, and opportunity21:52-25:13... how bad could this fire have really gotten?25:14-27:49... sprinkler dynamics and the crisis we averted.27:50-31:58... concluding the investigation